KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — A Battle Creek man is in custody for vandalizing the Eric Zapata Memorial Statue on the Downtown Kalamazoo Mall, and could now face a five year felony for the willful destruction of a memorial.
Eric Zapata’s son, who works for KVCC, discovered the toppled statue which suffered some physical damage.
Lt. Marc Rifenberg says they were able to locate video surveillance from nearby businesses that recorded a group, who stopped by the memorial at 1:17 Sunday morning for a picture.
Then he says one of them got a running start and knocked the free standing bust of Officer Zapata over.
They were able to use the video to identify the 29-year-old suspect and later tracked him down and arrested him.
The memorial honors Public Safety Officer Eric Zapata who died in the line of duty chasing a man armed with an assault rifle in the Edison Neighborhood in April 2012.
